SafeTALK mental health training course coming to Battlefords

“SafeTALK is a program that provides information on mental illness, mental health and mental wellness,” she said. “It provides the tools to help the participants prevent suicide by recognizing signs.”

The course encourages people to talk to individuals at risk of suicide, engage them in conversation, and connect them with resources in the community.

Battlefords Better Together, comprised of various organizations and agencies, was formed in response to a high number of suicides, including several youth in the area in 2017. Part of the funds raised from a mental health conference led by TSN sports personality Michael Landsberg in North Battleford in 2018 was directed to the Battlefords Better Together team’s work to promote mental health awareness in the community. Part of these funds were used to train two individuals to lead the SafeTALK course.

Many teaching staff have already taken the course.

“We really feel the skills learned can be helpful for anyone in the community, whether or not you work with youth,” Schultz said.

Mental health issues impact many individuals, including first responders.

Sask. First Responders Mental Health provides an online site with information and crisis line telephone numbers to assist public safety personnel such as firefighters and paramedics get help if they are experiencing a crisis or dealing with a personal mental health problem.

North Battleford Fire Department Fire Chief Lindsay Holm said firefighters on the team are always encouraged to talk about their experiences in their work and how it impacts them.

“Part of our job is responding to some fairly traumatic events with respect to incidents that do happen in the community,” he said. “We’re actually fairly lucky to have a pretty good program in order to help us cope with some of the things we see and do at fire scenes and at emergency management events, which are car accidents and that sort of thing.”

Firefighters take part in critical-incident stress debriefing-programs as part of their training.

Holm said the debriefing process allows firefighters to share their experiences and feelings “out in the open” after responding to a major incident.

“What we are trying to do is make sure our firefighters are in a good, sound mental-health state at all times,” he said. “It really helps us to deal with it emotionally… I think we’re in a pretty good place with that.”

Firefighters are also encouraged to engage in physical activity, such as running or bike-riding, which is good for their health, both physically and mentally.

Holm said what is especially important is that people need to be able to know they can discuss their feelings, which is an important part of mental health.

“The more you sort of remove any kind of stigma that is attached to any type of mental wellbeing the better off everybody is,” he said.

Today also marks Bell Let’s Talk Day – a national event to promote the importance of having good mental health and encouraging people to talk to someone when they are dealing with a mental health challenge.

Bell is donating five cents to Canadian mental health initiatives every time someone views their online video for this promotion. The video is available here.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Angela Brown

SafeTALK mental health training course coming to Battlefords

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